Original subtitles

Ezekiel saw the wheel.

This is the wheel he said he saw.

These are unidentified flying objects that people say they are seeing now.

Are they proof that we are being visited by civilizations

from other stars? Or just what are they?

The United States Air Force began an investigation

of this high strangeness in a search for the truth.

What you are about to see is part of that 20-year search.

Come on.

Hey!

Closing time, boys and girls.

You got about ten minutes to catch the last tram down Matterhorn.

I get it.

Welcome to Los Angeles, California, Sergeant.

Yes, sir. And it looks like another storm front moving in.

Yeah, they're going to get more rain, all right.

And I didn't pack my raincoat or my cap cover.

Norton Air Force Base.

See it down there off our left wing.

Nine o'clock low.

No, sir. Can't make it out. Right now. Yes, sir.

I do see it now, sir. I do indeed.

Something wrong? Thought they said it never rained in California. Not anymore,

they don't. Yes, sir, I read that in the paper this morning.

They had over 26 inches of rain this year. It's over two feet. Yeah, I know.

Three feet of snow in Dayton, four hours later, two feet of rain.

I'm looking forward to some sunshine.

You know, Mage, a dark tan really sets off my blue eyes.

Yeah, you're a regular Cary Grant.

Mrs. Emma Smith?

Yes?

I'm Major Gatlin. This is Sergeant Fitz, Project Blue Book.

I was expecting you. Won't you come in?

Thank you.

Come on, boys, get back in here.

Captain Morrison called. He said you were coming.

Yes, ma'am. Captain Morrison is a public information officer in this area.

Oh, won't you sit down?

You came all the way from Idaho just to see me?

Ohio, ma'am. Dayton, Ohio.

Oh, of course. Well, that's even further.

Well, to be honest, ma'am, we were coming out here on some other business anyway.

Captain Morrison asked us to investigate since

we would already be in the area, ma'am.

Investigate? How exciting.

Would you like some coffee? And I have some fresh cinnamon buns.

Oh, no thanks, ma'am. We just had lunch.

Well then, what would you like to investigate?

Read the newspaper account of your sighting,

but we'd like you to tell us about it in your own words.

Well...

Let's see now.

I guess it was about a month ago. I was out walking Marvin and Sidney, my two dogs.

It was late. I remember that.

The Johnny Carson show was over. I really don't sleep very well at night, you know.

We were down by the reservoir.

When I heard this strange noise, Marvin and Sidney became very upset. The End

Thank you.

I watched it disappear into the night, getting

smaller and smaller, like the Christmas star.

I wish I could have gone with them.

They wanted me to, you know.

Who wanted you to go?

They did.

The lights told me.

I just knew that big machine was beckoning to me.

I guess I was right.

How's that, ma'am?

About two weeks after the visit, two men came to see me.

Oh, they were so nice.

So different from Earth people.

Are you saying these men were alien beings?

From Venus.

I'm positive of that.

Is that what they told you?

No, they didn't say so exactly.

It was just something I felt.

Well, anyway...

It was a Sunday afternoon,

three years to the day my dear husband Kenneth disappeared.

I had just finished fixing a snack for Marvin and Sidney when the doorbell rang.

Good afternoon, Emma Smith.

May we come in?

You have been expecting us, haven't you?

We watched you the other night from the spaceship Venusia.

We signaled you with our lights.

We were hoping you would understand.

I did. I did understand.

You wanted me to go with you.

That's right, Emma Smith.

We wanted you to go with us.

You have been chosen because you have always been a good woman.

And you have suffered grievously?

What one thing would you wish for more than anything else in the world?

Kenneth, perhaps?

Kenneth?

Can you bring Kenneth back to me?

No, we cannot bring him to you, dear Emma Smith.

But we can take you to him.

Oh, yes, please.

Where is he?

He is alive and well on the planet Venus.

When can we leave?

You must have patience, Emma Smith.

The journey to Venus takes several months.

How much money did they want, Mrs. Smith?

Oh, they didn't ask for money. Well, at least not for themselves.

But they did say there would be expenses.

Why, yes, they did.

You sound as if you know these people, do you?

No, ma'am.

We'd like to.

Please go on.

Well, they said they would need earth money

to buy supplies and special clothing for me.

And I would need a breathing apparatus until

I became acclimated to their atmosphere.

How much money did they ask you for?

Well, I told them that I had about $40,000 in the bank,

and they said that would cover it nicely.

Yes, ma'am, I'm sure it would.

And since I wouldn't be needing Earth money anymore,

they suggested I take it all out, and whatever was left over,

I could convert into Atmos at the Interplanetary Exchange.

Into what, ma'am?

Atmos, that's the currency on Venus, and it's worth much more than our money.

100 Atmos to one of our dollars.

Mrs. Smith, what happened to your husband?

I never knew.

Until now, of course.

He went out one Sunday afternoon down to the drugstore for cigars.

I never saw him or heard from him again.

Have you taken the money out of your bank yet?

Oh, indeed. I closed out my account just this morning.

Cashier's check for $40,000.

How did you make out the check?

Just as Gist and Mallon wanted it.

Made out to cash.

Who wanted it made out to cash?

Oh, didn't I tell you? Those were their names, Gist and Mallon.

Unusual, aren't they? But then our names must sound just as strange to them.

When did they say they'd be back?

Tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock.

And on the 6th of March, when the moon is full

and Venus is above the horizon, we leave.

Mrs. Smith, if it's all right with you, we'd like to be here tomorrow.

You're not going to try to do anything to stop them from taking me to Kenneth.

We'd like to be here when those men come back.

Well, I don't know.

They told me that they weren't ready to make themselves

known as yet. Here on Earth, that is.

We'd like to talk to them.

Oh, I see now.

Why didn't it occur to me before? Of course, you men are from the Air Force.

Yes, ma'am.

You'd like to look over their space machine.

Sergeant Cook, please, ma'am.

Thanks.

Coming on now, sir.

She said it'd be just a minute.

How long have you known the Sergeant Cook?

Through jet qualification.

Yes, Jake Gatlin, Bill. How are you?

Fine.

Yourself?

Good.

Listen, pal, I think we're involved in some GI work you might be interested in.

An elderly lady by the name of Smith reads like Bunkle all the way to us.

Yeah, that's right.

Could you meet us at 2217 Lakeview tomorrow morning about 0830?

Okay, pal.

See you then.

Shank of the evening just about to come up, Mage.

What do you say we go out on the town and see if we can't get into trouble?

What do you mean by that, Sergeant?

You know, we might get lucky running into Charlie's Angels.

We've got that space symposium tomorrow at 1100 hours.

Our visitors from Venus at 0900.

Charlie's got three angels. That's one too many for him.

You're prompt. Where did you land this time?

We instructed our space captain to land us in your beautiful Orange County.

Do you suppose anyone saw you?

No, Emma Smith.

We employed our invisible ray.

We almost always do during daylight flights.

I see.

You'll be happy to know, Emma Smith,

that all the arrangements have been made and approved.

You are a very lucky lady.

How is Kenneth?

Healthy and happy and awaiting your arrival.

How soon will we be leaving for Venus?

As we told you, the sixth day of March, Earth time.

Do you have the money, Emma Smith?

How much did you say it would be?

Forty thousand of your Earth money, in dollars.

And then you will take me to Venus and Kenneth.

As swiftly as our good ship, Venusia, can get us there.

Gentlemen, these are my bankers, Mr. Gatlin and Mr. Fitz.

Emma Smith, you have completely broken your pledge of secrecy.

Don't blame her. We've handled Mrs. Smith's affairs for a number of years,

and when she closed out her account, we felt obligated to find out why.

There are a couple of questions we'd like to ask you.

We were curious about the propulsion system of your vehicle.

Interstellar ramjet.

How long would the trip take?

About four months, Earth time.

Really?

Well, if you're using a ramjet propulsion system,

you'd be able to travel at near the speed of light, wouldn't you?

The trip should take less than two days.

We must leave now.

Remember, we warned you about maintaining total secrecy.

Mr. Gist, I am an old woman,

and perhaps I have been living alone too long with only my dogs for company.

But I am not stupid.

Gullible, maybe, but not stupid.

These men have been asking questions.

I don't pretend to understand them.

But from what I can gather, Neither do you.

And these men aren't bankers either. United States Air Force.

You have no jurisdiction here. No, but I do. Los Angeles Police Department, Bunker Division.

Young man, major, what would the Air Force do if it were confronted with hard,

incontrovertible evidence of an extraterrestrial visitation?

Would they believe it? How could we deny it?

Well, you wouldn't try to cover it up?

For the past five years since I've been on the

job, we've been trying to uncover, not cover.

There's nothing to cover up.

Air Force philosophy is to prove the existence of any extraterrestrial phenomena.

Now, we'd be interested in that kind of evidence

if it exists. Another question? Yes.

Major, I have a question on sidereal days, you know, star time.

As far as the Air Force considers sidereal time,

I'd like to know how you arrive mathematically at that four-minute

differential between star time and Earth time.

That's more Sergeant Fitz's table. Sergeant?

Well, now, the Major's just being modest.

He's an astrophysicist and could answer that simple question in short order.

However, I'd like to suggest we settle for Earth time.

And it's now exactly 12.32, and all of us Earth

people eat lunch at this time, so shall we?

Major, could we talk to you for a moment, privately? Sure, go ahead. Well,

I'm Mike Kirby, and this is Dave Chapman.

I'm not quite sure how to phrase this, but we had, I guess,

what you'd call a sighting a couple weeks ago.

And this is the first time you've reported it? Yes, it is. Well,

I think I should explain the reason for our reluctance. You see,

Mike is a screenwriter, and I'm a writer's agent.

And being involved in the motion picture business,

we felt we'd have a difficult time getting anybody to believe our story.

Both Dave and I felt it was important that we tell somebody,

and after hearing you today, we figured you'd be the ones.

Fine. We'd be glad to listen. Could you come to my home tomorrow morning?

Mike and I'll be there, and the two women that were with us.

We'll be there. Good. Now, let me give you the address. 7806 Plaza Terrace.

That's right above the strip.

See you about 9 o'clock. Fine.

Thanks.

Sergeant, I caught you before you left for lunch.

Sure did, didn't you? I'll tell you what I did, Sergeant.

I ran that sidereal problem through our computer. Would you take a minute,

and we can go over it, okay?

I'll be delighted. Super. See you after lunch.

After dinner.

I wonder how they build houses on the sides of hills like this.

Very carefully.

Good morning, Major. Sergeant, please come in. Thank you.

Mike.

Hello.

Hi, Major. How are you?

Gentlemen, this is Cindy Carroll and Francine Roth.

Major Gatlin, Sergeant Fitz. Hello. They're with Project Blue Book.

Nice to meet you.

Cindy and Francine both work in my office.

Some view you got there, Mr. Chapman?

Yes. As they say, on a clear day, you can see Catalina.

Could I offer you gentlemen a drink? Oh, thank you.

You know, I'm really glad you guys decided to come.

Why shouldn't we?

Well, you could have written us off as a couple of wackos. No, sir.

We try never to prejudge.

Do you mind?

You people are pretty thorough. What do you do with the tape?

More accurate than taking notes. It's for official Air Force use only.

Nobody has access to it but our people.

It's okay with me.

You want to do the honors, Mike?

All right.

We all went down to the Springs a couple weeks ago just for the weekend.

We started to come home about 8 o'clock on Sunday night, but on the way,

we decided to ride the tram up to the top of the mountain for dinner.

None of us had ever been up there before. Well, after dinner,

we went in the bar for a drink, and before you know it, it was closing time,

and we were the last ones there. I'll pay.

I got it.

The power's off.

What's it gonna do?

It's gonna kill us. I know it is.

It followed us for almost five minutes down that mountain,

and every second we thought would be our last.

Then it just peeled off for good and disappeared into the night.

As you can imagine, it was an experience and a half.

Were there any other witnesses besides the bartender?

Well, not that we know of, but if anybody was anywhere around that night,

I don't see how they could have helped seeing that machine or hearing it. I mean,

it made a lot of noise. All right, we're going to give each of you a questionnaire.

We'd like you to fill it out separately.

Just answer the questions as completely as you can.

And each of you make a drawing of the machine, separately. Yeah,

but this all happened two weeks ago.

Do you think you'll be able to find anything now?

We can talk to the bartender and look for other witnesses if there are any.

See if we can come up with some kind of physical evidence.

If you find any, would you believe our story?

It's not up to us to believe or disbelieve.

We'll try to gather evidence and try to prove you saw something that night.

You sure take a positive approach, Major.

I wasn't aware the Air Force handled these things that way.

It's the easy way.

Pretty tough to prove a negative.

How so?

We could never prove you didn't see something, only that you did.

Makes sense.

I'd like to go along if it's all right.

No problem. I suggest you take your own car.

There's no way of telling how long we'll be.

One more thing, Major.

Do you think this will get into the newspapers?

Not unless you put it there.

Hi, nice to see you again. Can we talk to you?

Not right now. I'm kind of busy. We won't take up much of your time.

Look, I don't know anything.

Not a thing, okay? We understand. We're not here to cause you any trouble.

A couple questions and we'll leave.

Or you take...

We can sit here.

Mr. Kirby told us about what happened a couple weeks ago.

I'll just say this once, but if you try to

quote me, I'll deny everything, understand?

It was a flying saucer. There's no question about it.

Which is the one that cracked?

Back there.

We had it replaced the next morning.

Was there anyone in here besides the five of you?

Only the tram attendant, but he wasn't in here at the time.

Everybody else had gone home.

You say the attendant wasn't here. Where would he have been? Attending the tram.

I didn't see him. I had to open the door myself.

Well, anyway, he quit the next morning. We haven't heard from him since.

Did you talk to him the night after the incident? No, I didn't see him after it all.

Could you give us his name and the address?

Ray Lucas, Joshua Tree Apartments on Palm Avenue, but he won't be there.

I gotta get back to work, but remember what I said.

If anybody asks me, I don't know you.

Getting a reading.

Low-level background.

Looks like it might have been burned. Hard to tell.

Chimney has a spark arrestor on it.

Hot spars can squeeze through those screens sometimes.

Sometimes? There's no pattern on this roof.

This whole section, like it was melted off.

Looks like fresh paint on the outside of the cab.

The glass has been crazed. There's some rainbow effect.

What's all that mean? The crazing or surface cracking

can be caused by atmospheric compression,

exposure to heat, or blowing sand.

Rainbowing is usually a sign of excessive heat.

So what you're saying is everything can be explained away so far?

So far.

Harry, check with the maintenance people about the fresh paint on that cab.

I'll meet you at the car, then some legwork.

Anything I can do to help?

Not on this one. There are a lot of homes at the base of this mountain.

I don't see how anybody could have missed it if

they were just looking up. We'll let you know.

All right, I guess I'll be heading back to L.A. then.

Major, you ever have the feeling I'm having now?

Sure, the bartender backed us up, but we all saw that weird machine.

What if we can't find anything to prove it conclusively?

I know the feeling, Mr. Kirby. In this job, it's a way of life.

Trees should not have leaves. Yes, sir. We were talking about Mr. Lucas.

Well, he moved out of here about two weeks ago.

I remember it was early in the morning. He just up and left.

And he had three weeks' rent on the books. Did he give you any reason for leaving?

He didn't even say goodbye.

He just hopped on that little motorbike of his and took off.

Funny thing, though. What's that, Mr. Grogan?

I watched him go, and the way that bike was weaving, I swear he was drunk.

Did he drink?

Used to. He's on the wagon now for better than six months. Maybe a little more.

He took the plates, promised he wouldn't take another drink.

Something very important must have happened for him to fall off.

Did he leave a forwarding address?

Yes, he did. I just got a letter from him. He told me where I can send his mail to.

Somewhere up to Santa Barbara.

Could you give us that address, sir? Yes, I have it

back in my apartment. Come on, I'll get it for you.

Do you mind, Sergeant? Trees should not have leaves.

¶¶

It's a beautiful stretch of coastline, isn't it? Yes, sir, it sure is.

Never got to see much coastline from where I grew up.

South Carolina has a coastline, doesn't it? Yeah,

but it was a five-hour drive from where I lived.

Spent two weeks in Myrtle Beach one summer, though. I think I was eight.

A little hard to believe. Well, maybe I was nine.

Well, that's not what I mean.

Let's turn around. We're not going to Santa Barbara?

Later.

Yes, sir.

We're halfway there. Why aren't we going back? Look what's on page three.

Screenwriter and agency, strange spacecraft.

Full of quotes from Chapman and Kirby.

Why do you suppose they decided to release the story?

Particularly after they wanted to make certain we wouldn't.

Oh, hi. How are you?

Fine, thanks.

We'd like to see Mr. Chapman.

Oh, gee, I'm sorry. He's not in right now.

Do you know when he'll be back?

Well, I'm sure he won't be too long, Major. Would you like to wait?

Yes, thanks. I think we should.

Okay, just have a seat.

Thank you.

Here are the trades, if you'd like to read them.

Trades?

Sure, the variety, Hollywood Reporter.

Everything you wanted to know about the movies, but were afraid to ask.

Thank you kindly, ma'am.

Sure.

Listen to this.

Dave Chapman has just set a deal with Independent Studios for Mike Kirby to write a

screenplay based on his and Chapman's real-life encounter with a strange spacecraft.

Any mention of Blue Book involvement? According to Chapman and Kirby,

Major Jake Atlin and Sergeant Harry Fitz of the Air Force UFO Investigative Arm Project Blue Book.

I've indicated the sighting has been thoroughly investigated

and pronounced it to be an authentic encounter.

Miss Roth, it's very important that we find Mr. Chapman.

Actually, I'm afraid I can't, Major.

I know you can't, but you will, won't you?

Major, Sergeant, nice to see you.

Is it?

Now look, Major... No, you look.

Who gave you clearance to release that story to the news media?

We have the right to do that. To release the story, yes,

but you do not have the right to be spokesman for the United States Air Force.

Well, it's actually your fault, you know.

How do you figure that?

We made a deal. That's how motion pictures get made.

People have unusual experiences.

You know, they write books about them and make movies about them.

I know how it looks to you guys, but I swear to you, that was not a hoax.

The story we told you was true. That bartender confirmed it, didn't he?

That doesn't conclusively prove that you had an actual sighting.

What's that?

You can't write the ending till you get there.

Just saw a sign, 35 miles to Santa Barbara.

I understand a great many retired millionaires live

up here in Santa Barbara. Did you know that, Mace?

I do now.

Yeah, you want something? Mr. Ray Lucas?

Who are you?

This is Sergeant Fitz. I'm Major Gatlin, Project Blue Book.

No, I don't want any. We'd like to talk to you a couple of minutes, if we could.

Can we come in?

A little messy inside. We better talk out here, huh?

But I'm not going to enlist again. Is that what you

want to talk to me about? I've done my hitch.

We'd like to talk to you about two weeks ago, your last night on that tram job.

Who are you?

They're no regular army. Project Blue Book. We investigate UFO reports.

No, no.

I got nothing to say. Why not, Mr. Lucas?

Because you wouldn't believe me?

You think I was just some old rummy who was seeing things?

Were you drinking that night?

I was cold sober like I was for six full months.

Why did you quit your job? I promise you won't laugh at me.

We won't laugh at you, Mr. Lucas.

All right.

It was bitter cold that night.

I got to admit, I sure could have used a drink,

but I wasn't about to because I'd been dry for

a long time and I wanted to stay that way.

It was late.

My shift was almost over.

All I had to do was wait for the next train to come up and then ride it down.

I must have run a mile or two,

and then I came to an old Indian trail that led down the face of the mountain.

It was tough to follow in the dark. I slipped a couple of times.

It took me most of the night to get down to the bottom. At about dawn,

I came to the old Modu Indian Reservation.

I just kept walking until I got home. Then I started drinking again.

And I ain't stopped since.

Whatever it was you saw, it's gone now.

Maybe it's time you thought about giving that wagon another ride.

Yes, sir, I've tried.

I'm going to stop real soon now.

All right, Mr. Lucas, thank you very much.

Major, thank you.

For what, Mr. Lucas?

For not laughing at me.

Did you get a rundown on the weather conditions this time of year in Desert Springs?

Yes, sir. You should have the form 23A's in there someplace.

Okay, what do we got?

Six people claim to have seen it.

The writer and the agent want a profit from the story.

The two girls work for the agent.

The bartender and the tram attendant appear to be certain of what they saw.

And their stories all jive. Drawings the four of them made,

they all A and B pretty good.

They're close, all right, to what they say they saw.

They're thinking they did their homework.

We're making pretty good time, sir.

Exactly where in Desert Springs is that Indian reservation?

When we get there, we're gonna ask.

You can start asking any time, sir.

We're there.

Our tribe has a legend.

But then, of course, what Indian tribe doesn't?

Anyway, many years ago, before the white man came,

lights appeared in the sky above the mountain.

My people took that as a sign of a great spirit.

And the story was passed from generation to generation.

What about two weeks ago?

Did you see anything then?

I saw some lights in the sky, up near the top of the mountain.

What kind of lights were they?

If I remember correctly, they were red and white.

Some of them moved very fast, and the others seemed to be almost stationary.

What do you think they were? Could have been anything.

An airplane, a helicopter.

Sometimes they have parties up at the chalet and release colored balloons.

I really couldn't say what they were.

Of course, if this were a couple of hundred years ago,

we'd know exactly what they were, wouldn't we?

What's that?

The great white spirit.

I know it's late. I'm glad you can see us. No problem, Major.

Mr. Kirby. Hi. Sit down.

Thank you.

We have the results from our lab.

Good, what do they tell you?

The radioactivity reading was caused by some

low-grade mineral deposits near the chalet.

The snow and soil samples showed no sign of fuel residue.

Those were scorch marks on that composition roof,

but the cause could not be determined.

What about that broken window and the new paint on the tram?

There's no telling what caused that window to break.

Maybe pressure from snow on the roof, pressing down on the window header.

It's been known to happen in snow country.

The water stains in the floor wax could have been

caused by the cleanup people at the chalet.

Hot water spilled on a heavy layer of floor wax will create those spots.

As far as the tram was concerned,

the painting was part of a regular maintenance program.

We checked the Indian reservation down there. They saw the lights,

but the description was lacking any substantive detail.

Lacking detail. Could not be determined.

Could have been. Where does all that take us? We were there. We know what we saw.

There's nothing on this earth that looked like

what we saw up there that night. Nothing.

And in that tram, we watched that thing, not for just a few seconds,

it was at least five minutes.

And now you're telling us that everything is inconclusive.

Well, let's face it, what you're really saying is we're

a bunch of flakes that are trying to pull off a hoax.

No, Mr. Kirby, that's not what we're saying.

We're spending a lot of hours on this incident, and we don't mind.

We're doing it because we want to try to find evidence to prove your report.

But all we have is what you and Mr. Chapman tell us you saw,

and the verbal verification of four other people.

We can only tell you what we found and what we're attempting to do.

But you did find evidence that something happened.

Yes, sir. All circumstantial.

We also found out that because of the wind conditions this time of year,

landing and flight patterns are usually altered at the local airport.

High-performance jet aircrafts are routed in directly

over that mountain that particular night.

There's also a local police helicopter patrol,

which patrols in the vicinity of the chalet several times a night.

It very well could have accounted for the bright lights you saw.

Nevertheless, we'll still go forward with the project.

No, we won't, Dave. I've had a great many second

thoughts about this. I just don't like it.

Why not? You're getting paid extremely well for the script.

It's not the money.

Look, we had a UFO sighting. I wanted to put it all on film,

what it felt like to live through an experience like that.

And what does the studio want to do?

They want little green girls in bikinis coming out of the saucer. All right,

so they won't be green. Make them blue.

No, Dave, if I can't write it like it happened, then I won't write it at all.

Someday I'll write that script, but I'm going to put it down like it was.

No studio will ever buy it. That's a documentary without a finish.

It'll have a finish all right.

Oh? How's that? It'll go down in our books as a true unknown.

Why is that?

Well, we may not have been able to prove you did see it. We can't prove you didn't.

Well, all things being equal,

we hope you get to make your movie somewhere along the line.

Thanks, Major.

If I do, how would you like to be technical advisors?

Nice view, isn't it?

Thousands of tiny diamonds glittering in a black velvet box.

Back home, I was known as the port laureate of Six Mile South Carolina.